Two Iowa conservative Christian leaders this morning endorsed Rick Santorum for president and, as fears deepen that evangelicals here will dilute their votes, asked two other candidates to join forces with him.

Conservative Christian voters in Iowa have been engaged in a bitter fight over how to craft a unified endorsement, worried that a split vote will hand a win on Jan. 3 to Republican they consider more moderate: Mitt Romney.

The competition for the Family Leader’s endorsement was so fierce that one Iowa activist threatened to “burn (Vander Plaats’) body, drag it through the streets and hang it from a bridge,” if he didn’t endorse the Iowan’s candidate, Hurley told reporters this morning at a news conference in Urbandale.

Hurley said the three candidates each at about 10 percent in the polls (he didn’t name names but that’s Santorum, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann) should “team up.”

“Why can’t the top three or so pro-family candidates come together and figure out who has the talents for president, who has the talents for other roles?” Hurley said today, exactly two weeks before the Iowa caucuses. “And those people could quickly…vaunt into first place and win the caucuses and win the nomination.”

Bowing out of the presidential race “depends on the humble hearts of the individuals,” Hurley told the reporters at the Comfort Suites hotel’s lobby.

In Pella this morning, Santorum was munching on a cinnamon roll after a campaign stop when he found out about Vander Plaats’ and Hurley’s endorsement.

“There’s a lot of good people out here running, and I’m sure it was a tough decision. I think it shows that we’re the candidate right now that has the momentum, that has the message that’s resonating to the people of Iowa,” Santorum said.

Santorum had heard rumors that the Family Leader was going to endorse Rick Perry. Then he’d heard this morning that the group wasn’t endorsing anybody.

No endorsement would have been better than a Perry endorsement, Santorum said. “Now this is better than nothing – a lot better than nothing,” he said of Vander Plaats’ and Hurley’s endorsement.

Evangelical Christians and religious conservatives across Iowa share the concerns that their anti-abortion, anti-same-sex-marriage cause will be crushed by a vote split between Santorum, Perry, Bachmann and others.

Despite social conservatives’ reputation for heavily influencing the outcome, many stay home on caucus night, said Irene Blom of Pella, the Republican Party’s Marion County chairwoman.

“People who call themselves Christians have to wake up,” and participate, Blom said this morning after introducing Santorum to about 50 people who came to hear him speak at a Pella restaurant this morning. She remains unaligned with any candidate.

Mike Root, a pastor at an Independence church, said he’s torn between Bachmann, Perry and Santorum.

“I tell you, I really haven’t made my mind up between the three. I just really haven’t,” Root told the Register today.

The Family Leader endorsement probably won’t sway him, Root said, but he added: “I do respect Vander Plaats because he’s a real man of God and has stood for the biblical principles that we feel very strongly about.”

Karen Steffen, an anti-abortion activist from Maquoketa, heard Perry speak over the noon hour today, but she hasn’t decided which candidate she will support – and isn’t sure social conservatives will come together.

“I am praying for God’s wisdom on that. That is why I like to ask the question. God will give me the answer,” said Steffen, the former director of religious education at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. “The more we pray, the more he will give us the wisdom. It is the wisdom that we need.”

“He scares me,” said Fuller, who backs Bachmann. “I think basically because he’s Mormon. You know, also he has a lot of money. So does Rick Perry and you know when you have so much money that you don’t know what to do with it, and that’s about the way they are and Newt Gingrich also, they forget about the little guy that’s retired like we are living on Social Security and a small pension.”

Bachmann, during a campaign stop in Independence this morning, said many in the evangelical community are with her, even without the Family Leader’s nod.

“We have over 100 pastors across Iowa who already have come out in support of my candidacy and they’ve already gone on a pastor caravan across the state to advocate for me. We have very strong support in the because I am an evangelical. I have my life to Jesus Christ when I was 16 years old, I am not ashamed of my faith and people recognize in Iowa that I will stand up for religious liberty,” Bachmann told reporters.

The seven-member Family Leader board last month crossed off four candidates from consideration: Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney.

Four remained on the list of possibilities: Perry, Santorum, Bachmann and Newt Gingrich – but board members had been agonizing over how to reach consensus on just one candidate.

It has been more than four weeks since the Family’s Leader’s Thanksgiving Family Forum on Nov. 22, attended by six GOP candidates.

Vander Plaats flew to Tennessee Thursday to meet with national Christian conservative leaders. Family Leader board members met Friday to hash this over, and again Monday night.

Evangelical ministers around Iowa led a loud outcry in protest of an endorsement of the thrice-married Gingrich, whose character they have called into question.

An endorsement from Vander Plaats and his group was coveted by all four who remained in the running because it would have provided clout and some organizational aid before the Jan. 3 caucuses.

The Family Leader, whose membership includes many social conservative caucusgoers and evangelical pastors in Iowa, has taken an active role in the 2012 presidential nominating process. It has done a 99-county tour to build grass-roots momentum, a monthly lecture series, a marriage pledge meant to get the candidates on the record on same-sex marriage, and the Nov. 22 presidential forum moderated by Fox News’ Frank Luntz.